If you were given one more chance to do something what would that be?

As for me, if I were given my childhood to experience once again, I'd take up science and maths seriously apart from literature and learn guitar or piano sincerely and observe Michael Jackson's moves on the stage.
I would get myself a laptop and won't waste time in games and movies instead use my creative skills to direct a movie.
If I was given one more chance to relive my college days I'd never waste my time sleeping, instead study hard to get a better degree. I'd develop more patience with practice and make more friends.
All this in dreams. What abt u?

I think that every day that we wake up in the morning, we are given that "one more chance" because life is not lived in years, it is lived in minutes and in a day, one day at a time.
I have made some very poor decisions in my life that cost me a large home, a lot of money, and made me homeless for almost 3 years with my young son. Some very serious mistakes, but I can't change those, I can only learn from them. If we don't learn from our mistakes and use them to create the life that we want now then all that we went through and lost was for nothing.
Of course, there are many things that one would like to do different, but the only reason why you know that you want to do it different is because you were allowed to make those mistakes. Everybody learns like that. No one who is born comes here knowing all the answers, that would be cheating. We all have to figure things out as we go. As my dad always says, "Life is learned as you live it".
Some of us come here with super-smart parents who help us figure it all out before we are even teen-agers and they make us stick to the right road, so that by the time we are 21 years old we are well-educated and wealthy.
Like I said, that happens for some of us, but for many of us, it may take us decades upon decades to figure stuff out.
Imo, I think that the thing to do is, just do the things today that you say you would have liked to do way-back-when if you would have known better.
Start learning to play the guitar today.
Play the piano today.
Start directing a movie today.
Think if all those kids out there today that are in kindergarten, first and second grade. In elementary schools all over the globe there are kids who have to wait for decades to learn what you know now. They have to wait for years to grow up and start making their own money, you are a grown adult now. You can still make it happen.
I was raised by my great Aunt. She taught school in the 1930's and 40's. When she was about 70 years old, she went back to school and got another degree. If she can do it, surely you can do it! And when she went back to school at 70 years old she took swimming too, and in her bathing suit she looked like a well-bred thoroughbred horse, why? Because she ate good (a lot of vegetables and fruits and chicken and fish), took good care of her skin, and kept her body in great shape. People thought she was 40 when she was 70. Seriously.
It hurts sometimes to look back on our lives and think about what we
shoulda, coulda, woulda
done, but we have now, so I think we should make the best of now.
Playing that shoulda, coulda, woulda game is a dangerous thing. Hind-sight is always 20/20. We can always see things clearly when we look back on things with the benefit of a few years wisdom under our belts.
We have to cut ourselves some slack for the things that we did not do right back then, simply because we did not know any better. I know it is hard to give yourself a break about past mess-ups, believe me, I struggle with this every day, but giving ourselves a break is mandatory to living a successful life now. That, and not being lazy, of course.

Given the boon of life we are leading now, we are aware of one thing that time never stops, life never gets wasted unless we choose to. Now, it is not that we have regrets because we knew no better, but we were conscious of doing what we were, knowing how it could affect. When in the prime of life we do things inspite of certain benefits given to us, say for example the right kind of parents, then we are also given the knowledge that life has a purpose and we need to either listen to them or experiment it with ourselves. Consciously doing something that may affect in the later part of life, cannot be termed as a mistake. But it is, when we do things we feel can release us of some kind of emotions.
Realising it with positive attitude in the present platform,( whichever condition we are in)is a blessing. It is Life's take on figuring it out in our consciousness that regrets are nothing but results of our choices, we could have avoided regretting now, had we decided so then. In other words, did the right thing at the right time.
My question is not based on 'regret' as an answer. It is a wish fulfilling course that we might have dreamt of happening when life shaped our dreams differently for us to shape ourselves as we are, for good.If we consider other dimensions that 'second chance' might lead to then the discussion will find a meaning.
I appreciate your time and spirit. Above all your way of expression..:)

@HomeBase....This is such an extraordinary outlook on life. I'm going to save this discussion response and try to read it frequently. Thank you. I'm almost 70 now. Perhaps I can still do some of the stuff I've always wanted to do.
psst..I'd really like to go fishing again.

@aparajita...I think that a person can have regrets whether they messed up on purpose or whether they messed up by mistake in ignorance. Messing up is messing up, but I do think that one tends to regret more when they knew better but still chose not to do the right thing.
Most of the mistakes that I made were made in ignorance.
The main thing is that we have now. I thank God.

I have always wanted to be a doctor (specifically a cardiologist) since my childhood years. I tried very hard to focus on my academics throughout my schooling years but somehow I never achieved my goal. Today I wonder if I should have worked even harder or perhaps was it Fate that willed me not to be a doctor? If given one more chance, I would want to put my heart, soul and mind into my school studies, come out in flying colours at the entrance examinations and get admission into one of the finest medical colleges in the world - this would make me realize my most cherished dream of becoming a doctor and serving mankind.

I'd want to go back to my teenage years, have a hobby outside of school and home. If I'd right my wrongs, it's probably the one during my first year in college. I seriously failed my grades then. But it's not possible, is it? We just gotta go with the flow.

Yes, of course we need to go with the flow but still we need to keep looking back to secure our future in the present.In looking back we realise how much have we changed, transformed if at all. It's like revision in Life's school.

I want to go back to my childhood days, when all I got to do is play all day, laugh hard and my parents has plenty of time for me. All you are worried is that you did not get that candy your best friend have or those dolls,unlike now.. you are facing different kind of life and it seems like so impossible for me to let go.

Well, there are two things. First, I would have asked my mother who my biological father was earlier in life. I didn't find out until it was too late and missed out on 30 years with a family I never knew. Second, I would have forked out the $10,000 to put myself through beauty school versus the $100,000 I have in student loans working my way up to a Master's degree. I may be well educated, but I can't find a decent job. So at least I could have been doing something I enjoy and not be so far in debt.

I used to really believe in the value of a higher education. But I am feeling very discouraged. I have been searching for a new job for 6 years. I don't even get calls for interviews. I have had my resume professionally written. In recent months, I have been spending 3-4 hours a night searching and applying for jobs. I have a load of outstanding student loan debt, that I cannot make a single payment on with my current salary. I am overqualified for the position I have...it only requires a GED/HS diploma. I have a Master's degree. So you can see why I am questioning my decision to pursue higher education. Every day I wake up with the weight on my shoulders of knowing the amount of debt I have and cannot make a dent in.
If I had gone to cosmetology school, I may not be making a lot more money than I make now, but I would not be in debt either. And I would get some enjoyment out of what I do, which would certainly be a major improvement in my life considering I hate my thankless job.

I would like to go through junior and high school. I was so shy and quiet then that I feel like I missed alot. I said no to dates and didn't go to many of the functions. So I would like to go back and do it all over again. That was in the 60's so there was alot of things I wouldn't change at all.

Time really doesn't wait for anyone like one of mylotters said. As much as we wanted to turn back those times, we just can't. I too hope that I could bring back the old times and correct all those wrong decisions I have made. If there really is something that I wanted to change is that I really hope that I did not waste all my money to some things that aren't important. I should have just saved money so that I won't have to struggle financially at present.

That is a genuine case I think with most of us, an important decision we regret not having made when the time was right. But we must also weigh the situations and influences that forced us to be eccentric. Is it mental comfort that made us take resort to buying things we could have otherwise avoided? Was it the zeal to compete with ourselves that led us go for a shopping spree?
Even I have wasted money so, but later when I realised, I forced myself to forego any kind of buying the following month.

I've always wanted to be a college graduate..I should have
gone right after school which I love, but I was feeling so
grown graduating at 16 I just didn't want any more school
three years later I had my first child and that was that..
I don't have many times in my life that I would do over or
another way....

I think if I could turn back time, I would have been more serious with my studies in College so that I would have become a Dentist. I did graduate with the degree but was not able to take the board exams coz I already had a baby before graduation and I had difficulties in concentrating with my studies.

I would go back in time till the point i went to junior high. Id start exercising to lose my excess weight and gain muscle mass, study harder and id beat the living hell out of those bullys. In those days i was weak.... because of the constant bullying i developed a mental.... "problem"
This problem is actually what has shaped me today. It has made me stronger then everyone i know and i destroyed the problem.
Tis unfortunate because of the problem i wasnt able to focus on my studie so much....

I would have tried harder with Maths when I was at secondary school. I would have learned foreign languages in my childhood so I could be fluent in them now. I would have gone to a Michael Jackson concert. I saw Madonna in 1987 and Duran Duran in 1989. Those were the only concerts that I went to.